Friday, May 18, 2012

TSA Week in Review: 30 Loaded Guns Found This Week in Carry-on Bags

Six 12-Gauge
Flares: You know they have
little buttons above your seat for when you need a flight attendant, right? I
doubt you need signal flares to get their attention.These six flares
were found by our Officers at Milwaukee (MKE).

Body Scanner
Discoveries This Week –
There were seven incidents this week where drugs were found on passengers using
imaging technology. Items were found everywhere from pockets to the groin area
at LAX, ELM, SMF, OGG, PGD, CHS and TPA. We’re not looking for drugs, but
finding these nonmetallic items in areas where explosives could also be hidden
is a testament that the technology works. In addition to these discoveries,
there was also a passenger at Anchorage who attempted to sneak in a tube of
toothpaste by placing it in her groin area. This was an attempt to get it through after we had already caught it in her bag earlier. If you’re not familiar with why toothpaste
is prohibited, you can read about our liquid policies here.

No Smoking: Smoking has been banned on flights for
quite some time now, so please leave your smoke grenades at home. A live M-18
smoke grenade was discovered in checked baggage at Las Vegas (LAS).

Concealed
Knives: It’s one thing to
forget that you had a knife in your bag, but when you intentionally conceal it,
it raises eyebrows. Officers in Wilmington (ILM) found two knives a
passenger tried to conceal in their suitcase: a pocket knife wrapped in a
computer cable and a kitchen knife hidden inside the lining of the bag near the
pull handle support.

People Say the
Darndest Things - Here are
examples of what not to say at the airport. Statements like these not only
delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience lots of other
passengers if the checkpoint has to be evacuated:

When asked if he
had any prohibited items in his bag, a passenger at New York Kennedy (JFK)
replied: “Yes, I have a bomb.”

Miscellaneous
Prohibited Items - In
addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers also
found firearm components, realistic replica firearms, stun guns, brass
knuckles, an extraordinary amount of knives, ammunition, and batons.

Firearms - Here are the firearms our Officers found
in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.

Unfortunately
these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about
these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are
finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the
throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up
with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder
to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on
an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law
enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had
these items.

If you’d like
to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in ourOff
Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog postarchives
orsearch
our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related
issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer
Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by
usingTalk to TSA.

55 comments:

Since this appears to be a blog open to the public I would urge TSA to focus less on in-house statistics which are of great interest to in-house employees and focus much more on trust building and positive image building relationships with the public. For example you should promote or at least encourage discussions concerning the new phone application that enables immediate postings of live TSA search complaints. You need a public face as an ombudsman for the hard tasks and duties you fill. It's hard to get it right I understand but it's important to appear to try.

Is your failure rate at finding loaded guns the same as the overall failure rate for finding guns? For example, you contend that you found 30 loaded guns this week. Does this mean that you missed 70 loaded guns? Thanks in advance.

Congratulations on catching the girl who tried to "sneak" her toothpaste through. You guys also confiscated my unopened can of coke at DCA--I'm surprised you aren't crowing about that too. The continued incompetence and invasiveness of the TSA would be funny if you weren't wasting so much of our tax money.

Knowing the world that we live in, it would make common sense for everyone to cooperate in the process protecting all travelers from the evils of the world. When I travel by plane, my intention is to get there safely and return home safely. I commend the continuing advanced technology that can detect hidden items. Although the body imaging may seem evasive, I rest better at night knowing that it gets harder everyday to conceal these things. I commend the TSA. Traveling is a serious situation. We should all get more serious about protecting one another. I would rather my safety not be compromised for the sake of those who want to joke about it or want to relax the laws and regulations that protect me and the people I care about.

My pregnant colleague was told by one of your personnel at LAS that the metal detector was more of a health hazard to her and her unborn child than the millimeter wave scanner, as he tried to talk her out of opting out. Can you site the medical research to back up this position?

safety net said..."Knowing the world that we live in, it would make common sense for everyone to cooperate in the process protecting all travelers from the evils of the world."

Two big issues here.

First, you are assuming that the current airport screening is actually an effective protection. This is not a valid assumption. There is no evidence that they catch a significant fraction of the contraband carried through the checkpoints.

Second, it's important to protect our rights in addition to our physical bodies. If we give up our rights as American citizens much worse things than terrorists will follow. Look at Stalin for an example of what can happen when the government is all powerful.

Safety Net Said..."Knowing the world that we live in, it would make common sense for everyone to cooperate in the process protecting all travelers from the evils of the world. When I travel by plane, my intention is to get there safely and return home safely. I commend the continuing advanced technology that can detect hidden items. Although the body imaging may seem evasive, I rest better at night knowing that it gets harder everyday to conceal these things. I commend the TSA. Traveling is a serious situation. We should all get more serious about protecting one another. I would rather my safety not be compromised for the sake of those who want to joke about it or want to relax the laws and regulations that protect me and the people I care about."

Except that this waste of taxpayer money does nothing to keep you any safer. Everything dangerous cause would have been caught using old methods that did not violate anyone's privacy or Constitutional rights. These weekly posts are here for no other reason than to make one feel safe when the TSA is, in fact, doing nothing to actually make us any safer.

I still don't get the liquid restrictions. If that person who was caught with the toothpaste had the same amount of volume of a normal size tube of toothpaste in 4-5 travel sized tubes in a ziploc bag, it would have been acceptable. That person probably could have fit that tube of toothpaste in a quart sized bag. The total volume would still be limited by the size of the bag.

I think the TSA would gain some much needed good PR out of easing the liquid restrictions. I think people would be happy to take a bottle of water through security. A half-liter bottle of water will easily fit into five 3.4 oz containers, so why not let people carry the half liter bottle of water? It's the same amount of liquid either way. People could even put it inside a quart size bag if that makes you happy.

Anonymous said... I still don't get the liquid restrictions.................... May 21, 2012 11:49 AM_________________________________TSA has nothing to show that the liquid restrictions are needed.

TSA proves it's just theater when they toss these dangerous items in common trash bins at the checkpoint. If there was any concern that any of these items might be dangerous would a Security Professional place themselves in danger?

@safety net: Knowing the world that we live in, it would make common sense for everyone to cooperate in the process protecting all travelers from the evils of the world.

(S)he is actually quite right about this. Screening would be much easier, and would be as effective as mass screening can be, if the public willingly cooperated with the TSOs at checkpoints. In theory at least, the public and the TSA share the common goal of keeping aviation safe from "the evils of the world."

Unfortunately, the TSA doesn't seem to recognize this. They may even be incapable of recognizing it. Rather than earning the trust and respect of the public that would promote cooperation, they apparently prefer to do everything possible to make passengers distrust and dread the TSA.

That may be because they regard passengers as enemies who should approach checkpoints with trepidation and uncertainty, knowing only that they will be hassled, invaded, or even bullied and humiliated according to the unpredictable whims of the TSO who happens to be on duty at that moment. They seem to believe that earning the distrust, loathing, and above all fear of the traveling public is somehow essential to security, at least as they define it.

None of this makes any sense. But I guess we're all supposed to have blind faith that whatever the TSA does is necessary and appropriate for reasons that necessarily must be classified. We should ignore and not question what doesn't make sense to us, and instead have complete trust that that it all does make sense to the heroic officials who work behind locked doors responding to the latest robust intelligence.

Still, as Rich Buckley noted, it would make sense to at least try to improve the TSA's credibility and standing with the public. Even if they don't care about what the public (enemy) thinks of their agency, improved public relations might at least make passengers more willing to cooperate with TSOs to make their screening job easier. But then, TSA leadership may have no more respect for their low-level "officers" than they have for the public.

@Wintermute: These weekly posts are here for no other reason than to make one feel safe when the TSA is, in fact, doing nothing to actually make us any safer.

The posts are here to show us that the TSA are doing something.

Screeners regularly catch a small number of knives, guns and ammo that represent a potential danger. But apparently nobody at the TSA has actually considered those items an threat or terrorist plot, or even enough of a real danger for Bob to spin into a claim that screening has saved anyone's life or otherwise protected aviation. And we would never expect Bob to acknowledge that old-fashioned metal detectors, which were in place before the TSA existed, would have caught these items without the expensive irradiating strip search scanners and the "respectful" pat-downs.

Screeners also regularly catch an "impressive" number of "contraband" items that clearly pose no danger to aviation. I suppose that continually touting the ability of the expensive irradiating strip search scanners to discover drugs and toothpaste is meant to chip away at the resistance and even revulsion so many people have toward those dubious devices. It's supposed to convince us to put aside our revulsion, because if it can detect harmless toothpaste it obviously can stop the next underwear bomber. (Assuming, of course, that the machines can actually detect underwear bombs, which has not been proved. And also that the TSOs operate and maintain the machines properly, and are awake if and when it sounds the alarm. That's a big assumption, as is the assumption that said bomber begins his flight by walking through a TSA checkpoint at an American airport, which previous plotters did not.)

The TSA are clearly doing something. And they may actually provide a small amount of protection, most likely from the possibility of a gun or smoke grenade accidentally going off on an airplane. But the real question is whether whatever safety and protection the TSA provides is worth the very high cost-- in billions of tax dollars as well as our time, convenience, liberty, privacy, and dignity that are more difficult to quantify.

Posts like this do nothing to answer that question, which the TSA does everything they can to avoid answering. But I'm sure there are people who actually feel safe because of the TSA's proven ability to protect aviation from the threat of toothpaste.

If you're going to say that comparing the amount of dangerous weapons found while passing through security and then assuming that they are missing an even larger number of weapons is rediculous. You have no evidence what so ever to support that claim. In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying.

Sandra I found a weapon in a carry on bag when I did the job one summer in the 80's between high school and college. I was over ruled by the supervisor on duty and the passenger was allowed to keep it in his carry on. I know it was a different time and the weapon was clearly ceremonial, a large samurai sword, but that was clearly in violation of rules that existed then. I'm sure I'll get flamed by haters for saying how harmless that was and I should have had more common sense.

Student said..."In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying."

In my opinion, the founders of our country would be horrified by a statement like that. Ben Franklin explicitly said exactly the opposite. Losing our civil right is much more dangerous than any terrorist.

Student said... If you're going to say that comparing the amount of dangerous weapons found while passing through security and then assuming that they are missing an even larger number of weapons is rediculous. You have no evidence what so ever to support that claim. In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying.

May 23, 2012 4:32 PM.................We have the published results of Red Team testing showing TSA screeners missed 70% of target items.

We have the results of a TSA employee testing security being able to take a handgun through WBI screening five times and going undetected at DFW.

What have you to show that TSA is finding all possible items?

It is never appropriate to give up your civil rights especially to a defective and unproven agency such as TSA.

"But apparently nobody at the TSA has actually considered those items an threat or terrorist plot, or even enough of a real danger for Bob to spin into a claim that screening has saved anyone's life or otherwise protected aviation."

Note that Curtis never, ever mentions how many fines lead to arrests, let alone convictions. That would deflate his attempts to make people think there's a terrorist horde trying to bring down every plane, instead of a handful of forgetful people.

Student said...If you're going to say that comparing the amount of dangerous weapons found while passing through security and then assuming that they are missing an even larger number of weapons is rediculous. You have no evidence what so ever to support that claim. In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying.

Student, this claim is based on TSA's own reported miss rate. I believe the report showed that security only found 30% of items during testing. I am sure others on this site can confirm my numbers. The TSA report is very dated but TSA has refused to provide a more current report.

Student said..."If you're going to say that comparing the amount of dangerous weapons found while passing through security and then assuming that they are missing an even larger number of weapons is rediculous. You have no evidence what so ever to support that claim. In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying."

Aside from the fact that MY civil rights are not YOURS to throw away, the failure rate numbers that are thrown around here are not contested for accuracy, only timeliness. The TSA does not dispute that those numbers were accurate at one point in time, just that they are no longer accurate. Their silence when asked for more up-to-date numbers could lead one to believe that, perhaps, it's gotten worse for them instead of better. Without them contesting that, it's hard to believe that's not the case.

It's also ridiculous to assume that *any* security, much less the TSA's, is 100% effective. You only need one example of it failing to see that it's not 100% effective. One such example would be the C4 find awhile back. It was found on a return flight. Which means it had cleared TSA's security at least once before. Or how about Farid Seif, who flew out of Houston on an international flight in 2010? He was shocked to discover that he had forgotten to remove his loaded glock from his computer bag.

I could go on. I could also go on about the oath I took to defend the Constitution of the United States, which I don't recall having an expiration date. But this is not the post for that ;) My point is that if the 70% failure rate is outdated, then the TSA should give us accurate numbers. Their silence in the matter speaks volumes.

Student said, "...In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying."

Do you really value your civil rights so little that you would give them up so easily? Exactly which civil rights do you think you could do without?

Would you like the police to conduct a warrantless search of your home? You might have items that would endanger others in there. You might have *knives* in your home! Those knives make you a danger to me! I think the police should search your home immediately and take those knives away from you. While they are at it, they should take all of your household chemicals (because they are toxic and you could mix them together to make things that are even more dangerous). Matches and lighters should be confiscated, too. Those are dangerous. Cigarettes have to be confiscated; those endanger other people's health. Alcohol has to be confiscated in case you would drive or operate heavy machinery while intoxicated. You could use tools such as hammers and nail clippers for all sorts of nefarious purposes, so the government needs to take them from you. Don't try to tell me that you won't use all of these dangerous items against me. The presence of them in your home is enough to make you guilty.

"Student said... If you're going to say that comparing the amount of dangerous weapons found while passing through security and then assuming that they are missing an even larger number of weapons is rediculous. You have no evidence what so ever to support that claim. In my opinion giving up some of our civil rights is worth the protection to keep us safe while flying."

Actually, the Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan arm of Congress, tested the TSA and found that guns slipped through 70% of the time. So there's your evidence, although to someone who is willing to GIVE UP CIVIL RIGHTS (!!), I'm sure it makes no difference.

If all you people have such a big problem with how TSA conducts business don’t fly drive. And if TSA decided to be more lenient with their security and someone hijacks another plane or attempts to blow it up…who are you going to blame?...TSA that’s right. First its they are doing too much then it is they are not doing enough

Anonymous asks me: its good to see those evil tsa people doing good isn't it?

First, I've never called anyone at TSA "evil".

Second, the story you cite has nothing to do with the TSA. A TSA employee did an admirable thing while off-duty. That's nice ... and it also has nothing to do with how TSA has performed its assigned duties during the previous week.

Anonymous said..."If all you people have such a big problem with how TSA conducts business don’t fly drive. And if TSA decided to be more lenient with their security and someone hijacks another plane or attempts to blow it up…who are you going to blame?...TSA that’s right. First its they are doing too much then it is they are not doing enough"

So many things wrong with this statement:

First, as pointed out, it's a "straw man" argument.

Second, sometimes, air travel is the only convenient mode of transportation.

Third, the TSA can, and has, set up highway checkpoints.

Fourth, the increased travel by car could potentially to more accidents on the road.

Fifth, the TSA does not contest that is has (or had, since they argue the numbers are out of date but refuse to provide more accurate ones) a 70% failure rate. Does this instill confidence in their actual ability to catch terrorists? Two things have made us safer since 9/11. Hardened cockpit doors and passenger awareness.

Finally, if the TSA is so effective, how many "finds" by TSA screeners have resulted in convictions? If any, how many of those were terrorism convictions? The TSA is strangely quiet on that front.

I can't help but shake my head and laugh at the weekly patting itself on the back blog. It consistantly congratulates itself for finding all these weapons yet all these weapons were already being screened for prior to 9/11. All the TSA is doing is the same job that was done prior to their unfortunate creation. How about just sticking to actual terrorist threats like the Israelis do? The TSA is a self-licking ice cream cone that is probably fearful that if it doesn't continue to justify its existence in the face continued embarrasments. The latest is that they have hired a disgraced priest who was ousted due to child molestation allegations. Lest we also forget about the TSA conveniently losing reports of all its screw-ups over the last 10 years. Continue to write your elected officials so we can get rid of this anchor around the travel industry's neck.

The actions of one TSA employee in no way reflects on the other 50,000 or so TSA employees.

--------------------------------

What makes this story different from all the negative stories about the actions of ONE TSO? If the actions of ONE TSA employee in no way reflect on the other approximately 50,000 TSA employees as you suggest, then why is it that when something negative happens it DOES reflect negatively on the rest of the TSA employees? You cannot have it both ways! Either the good and the bad reflect the entire organization or none of them do! Clearly all of the negative reports have reflected negatively on the rest of the TSA employees, so this positive story should reflect positively on the rest of the TSA employees.

Many organizations would balk at hiring a Priest defrocked for sexually molesting 3 little girls... good to know the TSA will not only hire such a person; but make them a manager... I'm guessing because of his extensive hands-on experiences?

So if you've molested small children in the past; the TSA will make you a manager. Interesting.

"My point is that if the 70% failure rate is outdated, then the TSA should give us accurate numbers. Their silence in the matter speaks volumes."

Very true but we have recent confirmation of the TSA's poor performance. The Joint Majority Congressional Report on the TSA released in November 2011, Section II, page 3, the following conclusion is drawn:

"TSA‘s passenger and checked baggage screening programs have been tested over the years, and while the test results are classified, their performance outcomes have changed very little since the creation of TSA."

So the 70% figure may not be accurate - it was always an approximation - but the number hasn't changed much.

Pretty convenient that the TSA has classified its own performance, isn't it?

What makes this story different from all the negative stories about the actions of ONE TSO? If the actions of ONE TSA employee in no way reflect on the other approximately 50,000 TSA employees as you suggest, then why is it that when something negative happens it DOES reflect negatively on the rest of the TSA employees? You cannot have it both ways! Either the good and the bad reflect the entire organization or none of them do! Clearly all of the negative reports have reflected negatively on the rest of the TSA employees, so this positive story should reflect positively on the rest of the TSA employees.

---

I think you missed the sarcasm here. RB was using TSA logic to point out a little double standard. When something bad happens, the standard answer from TSA is "the actions of one TSO in no way reflect the whole TSA" yadda yadda. Therefore it stands to reason that the same statement should be issued when one of them does something good. RB is pointing out that you are right, they can't have it both ways.

On a recent trip I brought back a alb bag of coffee in my checked bags. TSA I'm sure looking for drugs not bombs opened the bag and then did not reseal it - a pound of coffee though out my entire bag. They also for the second time left my shaving kit unzipped. On previous trips I've had sunflower seeds spit in my luggage, my carefully pressed clothes dumped back in my baggage, an expensive camera lens taken out of its zip case and then just thrown back in my luggage.I understand security, but do we really have to accept the rude arrogant attitude and coffee spilled all over my bag to have security?

On a recent trip I brought back a alb bag of coffee in my checked bags. TSA I'm sure looking for drugs not bombs opened the bag and then did not reseal it - a pound of coffee though out my entire bag. They also for the second time left my shaving kit unzipped. On previous trips I've had sunflower seeds spit in my luggage, my carefully pressed clothes dumped back in my baggage, an expensive camera lens taken out of its zip case and then just thrown back in my luggage.I understand security, but do we really have to accept the rude arrogant attitude and coffee spilled all over my bag to have security?

It would benefit some of our more less than happy citizens to review the history books during WWII. We have learned many lessens regarding the protection of civil rights in this country. By the way, many of our veterans know exactly what must be done to defend us. Many of that generation "get what TSA is doing" In fact, we are far more trusting and in my opinion, liberal with our so called "civil rights" than any other time in US History. I sense you believe that you have some higher moral ground, than those who are serving your country. We meaning "US citizen" have shed much blood and treasure for you to be able to speak your words you do. You complain as a spoiled child full of entitlements. We are not entiltled to any favor or rights, because you wish it so. The rights we defend have been long fought for before you ever came to the airport. If you understood the history of defending this country you might understand the "Theatre" you speak of. The men and women of WWII, and previous and later wars understand the work to defend against these terrorist. You needn't grasp the idea, I don't think you will get it anyway. Those within the ranks of TSA are not perfect in the eyes of some. They are a respresentation of our society today, and are US citizen with rights themselves. I don't believe there is any company in the US with 50,000 plus employees that isn't going to have a few bad apples. HHHHMMMM!! Even our military is unable to weed out some of it's trouble makers. "Timothy McVey" for example. Or dare I say, a few of the folks on Capital Hill. TSA officers have the right not to be condemned before trial,as they are so often accused by the media. So often the public demands answers and explainations about policy and procedures of TSA that don't make sense to them. Unfortunately, TSA cannot educate eveyone about security methodology and practices. TSA is the new whipping post for the elitist who have nothing better to do with thier time then bash TSA. "Get a life" Please don't fly! Your the guy in line that just continually moans and complains because the world doesn't revolve around him and his needs. Life just doesn't work that way!- Happy to be alive !

I'd like to know if the random hand swabbing has actually caught anyone who has genuinely touched explosives. As a mid 30's female, 5feet tall from Scotland (which by the way means i've never seen a gun far less touched one as it's illegal there for most of the public)I was given the pat down procedure whilst trying to fly home via houston after apparently testing positive for explosives. I was not told this so was extremely frightened, as was my husband as neither of us had a clue what was happening and i was taken away from him with no explanation. After patdown and further testing the lady tso simply said, fine. I had no clue as to whether that meant i was good to go or what it meant. I believe my handcream was the issue so if these tests cannot tell the difference between handcream, shower gel, aftershave etc then how many more tourists are going to be frightened to ever travel to the U.S again.

Anonymous said..."It would benefit some of our more less than happy citizens to review the history books during WWII. We have learned many lessens regarding the protection of civil rights in this country."

McVeigh was not in the military when he committed his crimes. I would be happy to let the TSA off the hook for people who were no longer employed by the TSA when they commit crimes. Unfortunately, TSA criminals are actively employed and, in many cases, commit crimes while on-duty.

No one should believe that vets "get the TSA." As a 25+ year vet, none of my colleagues believe the TSA to be anything other than a huge, bloated, ineffective embarassment to the American experience.

As with slavery and Japanese internment, we will correct the sin of the TSA. Just give us time.

even though i really like the US, the law can be very harsh sometimes, and as i have visited NY airport, ive seen police to confiscate almost anything from toothpaste to greek sweets such as baklavas..!!!